My Name is Taylor
by Fencer22
Summary: An angry Taylor demands justice for crimes committed against her, but when cover ups and misunderstandings spiral out of control she reaches out to New Wave for help. And she makes sure the whole city knows it. I don't own Worm.
1. Chapter 1

AN: Marry Christmas! Here is the gift I promised all of you. I asked you to vote and this is the story that won... got to be honest with you I never expected this one to win. After the original draft got shot down so hard way back when I was first trying to write I really only decided to rewrite this one to prove to myself that I could do it. Having it actually get selected over the others blindsided me. But I promised you a story and I plan to deliver... I just may need to bounce some ideas off of wolfboy before I really get into the thick of things with this one. The runner up was Poltergeist which trailed by only three votes and a fair bit behind those two was The Saints. I'll consider giving more of my plot bunnies threads once I've finished Grind, and gotten my muse to cooperate more consistently, right now I've got a shit load of writers block.

Anyway! I don't own Worm, if I did I'd have a tv or ebook deal by now. Seriously, hurry the fuck up Wildbow! We all want to see the anime you work is destined to spawn!

* * *

My Name is Taylor

With a scream and a shriek of twisting metal the door of my locker blew off of it's hinges and I stumbled out in an undignified heap.

They had finally pushed too far. I'd weathered everything else the bitches three could throw at me without complaint, well ever since the staff made it clear I would get no support from them. Now though? Now for the first time in memory I wasn't just sad or depressed, I was angry.

Angry didn't quite cover it though. Furious, seething, enraged; all seemed better terms for the feeling of blood singing through my veins like a storm fighting for release.

They would pay. Ever blasted one of them was going to pay for this. I had power, I had evidence, and I was out of patience. If the school wasn't going to help then I just needed to go over their heads. And if for some reason they tried to stop me from going over, well there is always the option of going _through_.

Shoving a handful of _filth_ into the front pocket of my hoodie I marched towards the office.

I could feel my power flexing as I walked, little balls of light would materialize around me mostly in the hallway but a few in random classrooms and above the ceiling tiles. Stopping mid step I tried to figure out how I knew that. Paying conscious attention to my power I realized I was getting a sort of sense of where things are around the little orbs of light. From the ones in the classrooms nearby I can almost hear whispers.

Shaking off the thought I kept moving. Some of the balls followed me moving around me like patrolling aircraft. A quick thought saw them organizing into squadrons and flying a more distinct formation circling around me.

With control seemingly at odds with my current mood I opened the door to the office and marched past the startled, sputtering, receptionist and right into Blackwell's office.

There sitting in an old chair typing at an older computer was my first likely obstacle to justice. The poor woman looked utterly stunned at my admittedly disgusting state. The look on her face took an even more sour turn as she tried to fight off the need to vomit from the smell. Lucky me I'd already emptied my stomach and spent… too much time going numb to the smell.

"What?" With a snarl and another flex of my power I cowed the woman to silence before she could properly form a question. The fact that the now dozens of orbs of light orbiting us made me feel safer was not unwelcome either.

Reaching into my hoodie I pulled out the wad of refuse from the locker and tossed it smack dab in the middle of the woman's desk causing her to jerk back as a few flecks of rotten blood and mold splashed loose just barely splattering her jacket and shirt.

"I've spent," I broke off to glance at her office clock. "Two damned hours, trapped in my locker with a pile of shit just like that which went up to my knees." I seethed. "In that time I have begged, screamed, and cried for help. None of the students, or staff, did anything to help me. As you can see I managed to get myself out."

Blackwell looked torn between fear and nausea. Good, that probably meant I was getting through to the bitch.

"You always told me there wasn't any evidence when I complained about bullying, well I've got a locker's worth now and I don't think anything you can do is going to be quite enough to cover this up. Call the police, I want Emma Barnes, Sophia Hess, and Madison Clements arrested."

The woman's eyes widened in shock, and fear? Why the hell would she be afraid?

"Now, Taylor," She began her tone placating. "I'm sure it isn't necessary to involve the police, after all there is-"

One of my balls of light slammed into her computer monitor causing it to explode, others slammed into the back legs of her chair. With a shriek Blackwell and her chair tumbled to the floor and the now terrified woman started scrambling away from me.

"Not, necessary? Not necessary!" I screamed. "Oh it's well past fucking necessary, you incompetent bitch!" A trio of my light bombs, or whatever they are broke off from circling the room and instead made a small circle right in front of Blackwell's face. The extra light made it easy to see just how rapidly the she paled. "Just sit there and be quite."

Reaching over I picked up her desk phone and dialed 911. Maybe if I was lucky they could arrest Blackwell for obstruction of justice while they're here.

"911, what is your emergency?" A calm and cool female voice spoke over the line.

"A group of students trapped me in my locker with, with, God I don't even know what to call this crap. I was stuck their for two freaking hours before I blew the door off its hinges. The principle just tried to convince me that I didn't need to involve the police but I've had it! I want them arrested!"

"Miss, I need you to calm down. Are you safe right now?" I took a deep breath trying to follow the operator's advice.

"Yes, yes, I'm safe right now. Though I'm covered in, I don't know, old rotting blood I think."

"Alright miss, I know it's going to be difficult but I need you to not clean yourself up. The officers will want to take pictures for evidence. Now did you say you _blew_ the door off of your locker?"

"I," Shit, I should not go around telling people that I have powers. But, surely the police wouldn't go telling the gangs that I have powers. I could trust them, right? Besides how else could I explain saying I blew the door off it's hinges?

Hearing Blackwell whimper I mentally cringed. I suppose it was a bit late to worry about not letting on that I have powers. "Yes, I did. I'm sorry I just… I just got powers, in there, just now. I have these light, ball, things."

"Ok, miss. I want you to stay calm and whatever you do don't use them on anyone. Can you do that for me?" I wanted to be offended but glancing at Blackwell still cowering… I moved the orbs back a little bit. They now circled a few feet from her rather than six inches.

"Yeah, yeah I can do that. I, just please send someone to Winslow. The girls behind this are Sophia Hess, Madison Clements, and Emma Barnes. Though Sophia had to be the one to push me in. She's always the one who pushes me. I just can't put up with this shit anymore. Someone has to do something about them." I started to mumble towards the end.

"Ok, just one last question miss, what's your name and where are you right now?"

"My name is Taylor, and I'm in the principal's office at Winslow."

I could feel adrenaline bleeding out of my system taking some of my anger with me. Tiredly, I placed the phone back on the receiver only realizing too late that the person on the other end had started to say something else just as I hung up. It couldn't be anything too important though or she would have mentioned it sooner.

I slumped into one of the uncomfortable plastic seats Blackwell kept for students to sit in. slumping a bit I tried to get comfortable as I waited for police to arrive.

{}{}{}{}

Velocity

"Velocity, break off your patrol and head for Winslow high school." The voice of the trooper working dispatch crackled over my headset. I was pretty sure his name was Chuck… Though it might be Paul.

I took a moment to get my bearings before moving in what I was reasonable sure to be the right direction.

"On my way. What am I going there for?"

"PD got a call that they had to pass off to us. Patterson took the call he says we've got a fresh trigger threatening Stalker civilian ID."

I almost missed a step. That was bad, really seriously bad.

"Shit. I'll get there as fast as I can!"

"Head for the principal's office once you arrive, that's where the call came from."

{}{}{}{}

Taylor

Ten minutes of fighting the urge to take a nap by making the orbs my power produced fly in formation later I sensed, with that weird new spacial awareness my power granted me, someone slowly making their way through the outer office. I could almost make out the new arrival saying something to the secretary who, huh, when did she move to the corner?

I turned half around in the crappy chair leaning over the back and resting my chin on my arm. Now facing the door I waited for the new arrival to come in. Honestly I just wanted to get clean and get some sleep.

The door swung open to reveal a man in red spandex. I was, a bit surprised that someone had sent a member of the Protectorate instead of the Police, but I had admitted to being a cape so I guess it made sense.

Velocity took a moment to take in the whole room and just as I lifted an arm to wave he dashed forward in a blur and stuck something into my arm, before basically leaping back. Instantly I could feel my eyes start to close and my body start to slump.

"What?" I managed to mumble before my eyes slid shut.

{}{}{}{}

Velocity

Cautiously I opened the door to the main office taking a moment to glance around taking everything in. Depressing fluorescent lighting, walls painted something between grey white and yellow that seems to sap energy from the very soul, and desks covered in office supplies.

All in all exactly what one would expect… that is if I ignored the pale yellow balls floating in the room at various heights. Well at least that confirmed the presence of a cape.

A whimper from the back right corner of the room drew my attention to the secretary crouching in the corner behind her desk.

Internally I was whistling like a construction worker. Long blond hair, beautiful face, and her chest! Hello damsel in distress, why yes I am here to save the day! A glance at her desk as I worked my way towards her revealed a few CD's; Green Day, ACDC, Guns N' Roses! I have to get this woman's number! Right, game face, ladies love a hero in tights.

Crouching down to be on eye level I give her a reassuring smile.

"Hey it's all right. I'm Velocity, I'm here to help, talk to me, do you know where the cape who made those is?" I asked waving at some of the floating orbs. Shakelly the woman pointed towards the principal's office.

"S-she just marched in there. She was covered in blood!" The woman who's name I absolutely _had_ to learn hissed. "There was some shouting and few crashes but it's been quiet for almost ten minutes now." She said looking worriedly towards the principal's office.

Blood was a bad sign, stuff getting smashed wasn't good either and this girl was supposedly after Shadow Stalker… yeah the kid needed to get shut down fast. Luckily I'm as fast as they come. The PRT could sort the rest out later.

Pulling a tranquilizer from my belt I moved to the door and opened it cautiously.

The Principal's office had the same bland depressing atmosphere as the main office with the added bonus of a smashed computer, smashed chair, teenage girl covered in blood and a woman who was clearly terrified and had several of the girls balls orbiting around her head. I held back only long enough for a few of the orbs to move out of my direct path and kicked my power into it's highest gear launching myself forward and injecting the tranquilizer into the girl's arm.

She managed to mumble something before toppling out of the chair unconscious. Breathing a sigh of relief I pulled out some zip ties.

Now all I had to do was get the secretaries number.

{}{}{}{}

Taylor

Groggily I fought my way back to consciousness. The memories came rushing back a few moments after I opened my eyes to a plain white cell.

"That no good fucking bastard!" I screamed at the walls even as my power reacted as fast as thought and the balls of light started to materialize out of the air. "Let me out of here you bastards! I called the cops to arrest a bunch of bullies not me you fucking screwups!"

No answer was forthcoming.

Bastards! This was so fucking typical! Tell someone in power you need help and they just brush you off or make things worse! Bastards!

With a scream I sent a series of the orbs crashing into the cell door. The door dented slightly but otherwise held firm.

I was contemplating using more when a low pitched hum drew my eyes to the ceiling where several silver orbs jutted out from the ceiling. The hum reached a crescendo and arcs of electricity filled the cell. For a brief moment I could feel my muscles seize and spasm as I collapsed to the floor and my vision faded out.

{}{}{}{}

Velocity

"Velocity, explain to me why you felt it necessary to tranquilize a girl who called the police because she had been assaulted." Piggot's voice cut through the conference room like a scalpel.

"I, what? You mean the new villain I brought in? Dispatch told me she was threatening to attack Shadow Stalker." The hell was she talking about?

The director fixed me with a piercing glare before tapping a few buttons causing a recording to start playing over the rooms speakers.

Every sentence made a sense of dread grow in my chest.

"I, all they said was she was going after Shadow Stalker." It was all I could think to say after the recording finished playing. Sighing Piggot nodded as she massaged the bridge of her nose.

"I was afraid you would say that." Looking up the woman glanced around the room, a few of the higher ups from the PRT as well as Armsmaster sat around the table. "The things miss Hebert said suggest that Shadow Stalkers has been harassing her for an extended period of time. That combined with the Principles reluctance to comment to our officers and the disturbing way the information was altered before reaching you suggests that several people have been covering for her behavior. Walker, find out who was covering for her and why. That she was getting away with this is completely unacceptable."

Nodding the man stood and left the room at a brisk pace.

"Now, miss Taylor Hebert, a fresh trigger who was attacked unprovoked by a hero while attempting to report a crime committed against them to the proper authorities. She is currently sleeping off a tranquilizer. She's been cleaned up and changed into some fresh clothes. We've also given her antibiotics to fight off any potential infections, all in all she should be fine. That said, she has now been attacked by two of our people." I tried to sink a little lower in my seat without making it completely obvious.

"She used her powers in a school without any kind of costume. If she walks out our doors I give it a week until someone forces her into one of the gangs. That said she likely is not feeling very charitable where we are concerned, even ignoring the fact she does not know Shadow Stalker is one of her bullies."

The director looked around the table. She let that sink in for a minute.

"I need suggestions, how do we get her into the Wards, we can hold her for forty eight hours, but forcing her to spend that much time in a cell won't make her any more charitable towards us. It's possible holding her will cow her into compliance, but that's a bluff at best. So, what are our options, people?"

I tuned out the rest of the conversation. I wasn't a cop or a lawyer, just a guy with a mediocre power collecting a paycheck. I had little to contribute. This day just got worse and worse. First the secretary was married and now this?

Could this day get any worse?

{}{}{}{}

Taylor

Carefully I materialized my, you know what I'm just going to call them drones. I materialized my drones carefully in the gaps of the walls and ceiling. It wasn't a lot of space to work with but it would be enough. I spread them out slowly working them through the building. Things sped up rapidly once I found the ventilation. In my mind I could picture each drones location and it's surroundings. Slowly as they spread out a map of the building began to form in my mind.

Vaguely I could hear murmuring. Closing my eyes I tried to focus on the noise.

" _-it's just going-"_

" _-'s birthday-"_

" _-did you hear abo-"_

" _-watch it would y-"_

" _-Jack."_

" _-Taylor Hebert-"_

" _-dog chewed up-"_

" _-are we still on for-"_

I could hear everything overlapping some words jumping out here and there. Hearing my name somewhere in the din I tried to focus on that voice, on that area. Slowly the number of overlapping voices trailed off.

" _-burgers for dinner-"_

" _-kid loves spungbob-"_

" _-powers in a school-"_

" _-crumbs on your-"_

" _-not to call me that!"_

There! Powers in a school, that was the same voice that said my name! I can do this, just have to focus.

" _-No, you know how much I hate potato salad-"_

" _-know Shadow Stalker is one of her bullies.-"_

What? Shadow Stalker, a hero, is, is one of. It can't be that's just. But, but what if it's true? I mean, it would explain a lot. It would explain why Blackwell had covered everything. It would explain the Protectorate coming running when I mentioned the trio's names. It would explain why Velocity had knocked me out when I had been the one to call for help. With a snarl I focused on the more intensely on the conversation.

" _-get her into the Wards?- -hold her for forty eight hours- -holding her will cow her into compliance- -best.-"_

My focus slipped as my emotions surged. How dare they?! How dare they try and force me into the Wards after everything they had done! After all the trouble they had caused me! I wouldn't do it. I would never join these bastards. I redirected my drones back to mapping the building. I needed a better idea of where I was and what I had to work with. Getting a map of the base would be my starting point.

But what would be my next move? I needed to plan ahead. I needed support to fight back against the Protectorate and the PRT. I needed an angle I could use against them. I couldn't go to a gang for help… Well I suppose I _could_ go to the Empire, but as bad as the Protectorate seemed to be behind the PR lies the Empire was still far worse. No I wouldn't be going to Neo nazi's for help.

There was, one other option… New Wave. Heroes with no secret identity, heroes who hold themselves accountable for their actions. Maybe more importantly though one of the founding members is a lawyer.

A vicious grin started to spread across my lips. After all these months of my bullying being buried in part due to Emma's father being a lawyer the idea of having one on my side instead was to ironic to pass up. But how to reach them.

Slowly, ever so slowly and idea started to form and my grin grew ever wider, for a moment I fought an urge but quickly it became impossible to resist and I started to lough.

{}{}{}{}

Velocity

Half an hour of back and forth and we're no closer than when we started to figuring out a game plan. Honestly I felt bad for the kid, but mostly I just wanted out of this room. Knowing the director she was probably aware of that fact and it was the whole reason she hadn't dismissed me. Typical, I do the best I can with clearly false intel and I get punished for acting on what I'd been told.

The door to the conference room slammed open and some guy from one of the offices ran in panting lightly.

"Director, you need to see this!" He said, frantic and wide eyed.

The director just scowled at the man, who gulped before handing her the tablet clutched to his chest. Frowning the director looked it over. As she watched or read whatever was on the screen her face grew steadily paler before she abruptly stood and left the room without issuing any orders. Curious I and several others made our way over to the tablet. On the screen was a video. I clicked the replay button.

The screen showed the Protectorate headquarters out in the bay and above it a floating mass of light. Slowly the lights rearranged themselves into a giant letter, then another, and another.

 **MY NAME IS TAYLOR HEBERT. I AM BEING DETAINED. I HAVE COMMITTED NO CRIME. I WANT MY FATHER. I WANT A LAWYER. I WANT TO JOIN NEW WAVE!**

The message repeated itself three times. Before the video ended.

"How widespread is this?" Someone asked.

"It's all over the PHO boards, and I think a few local news crews have already picked up the story." The guy who brought the tablet answered.

Someone started cursing. I just made my way back to my seat and rested my head in my hands.

How the hell had things gotten so far out of control?

* * *

AN: Merry Christmas everyone! Please remember to leave a review and follow or favorite!


	2. Chapter 2

AN: Don't own Worm! Sorry this took so long I've been fighting with plot bunnies and laziness.

* * *

Sophia Hess

My phone vibrated distracting me from another pointless math class. Slipping it out of my pocket carefully I was surprised not to see any new text messages. That meant my other phone, my PRT phone. Slipping the regular phone back in and my cape phone out I was rewarded with a banner declaring a new message from my probation officer, Higgs.

 _New cape phoned 911 from Winslow. Mentioned you by NAME. Protectorate moving to detain. Do not engage. Risk of exposure to great. Be on guard until situation is resolved._

I had been riding high all day from the morning's prank. This was like a bucket of ice water down my back.

Hebert. It had to be her. Sure, there were plenty of people here I had pissed off but, no one I'd smacked down nearly as hard as her, or as recently. How the pathetic little shit had managed to get powers… Fuck that just… It's fucking wrong! The little bitch was pathetic! Not an ounce of fight in her!

I had to bite back a snarl. I did not need attention right now. I needed a plan.

Taylor would squeal. Hell, she probably already had. So then why did Higgs say the Protectorate was on their way? No something was off. If it was a lie it was poorly thought out. They wouldn't be able to drag me out of class without drawing attention…

My other phone vibrating broke my train of thought and I had to fight hard not to curse at the distraction. A quick glance told me it was from July. Which was weird on its own. The goody goody never used her phone in class.

The message just said 'cape!' but attached was a picture of a ball of light just hanging above and to the left of some classroom door.

That was… actually good news. If Hebert was stupid enough to use her power around civies, especially in a school of all places then no one was going to be asking any questions. They would just take her down and figure everything out later.

That was good, that was really good. It meant Higgs was on the level and the Protectorate would be coming to haul Hebert's ass off to a cell which bought me time. She would still squeal, probably already had which meant, what? Someone was covering for me? That Hebert had really lost it and was threatening to go Cary? That some numb nuts had heard new cape and my civ ID and just tuned out the rest? It didn't _really_ matter why, unless it meant the PRT was going to side with me.

I started tapping my pencil against my desk. I had to think this through. A low-pitched whine and a blinking red light from above the blackboard distracted me before I could even start to plan.

The cape alarms.

The cape alarms were added to the normal set of drills after people realized that a locked door was so much tissue paper against most capes. The normal intruder protocol of turn off the lights lock the door and hide in a corner really wouldn't slow down an average cape. The nine proved that back in 06.

The cape alarms were installed in schools across the country along with protocols to evacuate the schools in 07.

Then the nine pulled the same stunt again in 08. Only this time they had half of their members waiting outside the school. Kids ran right to them and ended up trapped between two groups of psycho killers. It took even less time then they're attack in 06.

Now we still have the alarm system, but no one has been able to agree on cape attack protocols since then. Protocol could literally be whatever the hacks in charge of the local schools came up with. For Winslow under the current board of Ed. that meant falling back to the old intruder plan. Lock the doors, shut off the lights, pretend to be a fucking mouse until the heroes arrive to save your sorry ass. Worst. Fucking. Plan.

I hated being crowded in with all the useless shits sitting in the dark. Sniveling fucking cowards. Still it would give me time to think.

Right, what did I know? The PRT were coming to get Hebert, or potentially some other no name little shit, but most likely it was Hebert. I mean I suppose the locker was bad enough to make her trigger, though how she lucked into powers I would never know. It could have been some other shit for brains who lost it but no one else had any reason to call me out. It would be just like the little bitch to get powers and call the police rather than settling things herself. Pathetic, no good, fucking snitch.

Whatever, so they hadn't put two and two together, yet. Could they prove I was the one who pushed Hebert in there? Probably not, but if they actually investigated, which they would have to because powers had been used in a school, the truth would come out. Someone would squeal. Not Emma, and probably not Madison. But people had heard the shouting, people had smelled the crap that was stuffed in there with her. And people knew the three of us were the ones to go after her. Someone would break. The story would get out.

Piggy had made it very clear what would happen if I stepped out of line. I wasn't going to juvie over that little shit Hebert. I'd have to run.

Fifteen minutes later and the intercom came on. It wasn't Blackwell's voice which meant it must be the secretary. Part of me wondered if Hebert had snapped and killed the Blackwell.

"D-do to a parahuman incident the school will be closing early today. The threat has already been handled. All students are asked to collect their things and make an orderly exit from the building. Thank you, that is all."

I was the first one out the door and already pushing towards my locker. After this shit no one would be collecting homework tomorrow so hauling books around would be pointless. Hell, I wouldn't even _be_ here tomorrow. But I had to at least put on a show of ditching this crap in my locker instead of a garbage can. I only made it about twenty steps before both my phones started to vibrate. Ignoring the regular one I fished out the PRT one to find another message from Higgs.

 _Report in at the normal time. Breaking from routine could further compromise civilian ID if anyone is looking for you when school has been cancelled._

Regular time, that meant I had until five to work something out. That meant just over six hours unless they started to piece things together sooner. I needed to move. Useful as I might be, the Pig wouldn't hesitate to throw me under the buss if she thought I was _harassing_ civies, or doing something to fuck up her precious PR.

Fuck, I was going to make Hebert pay for this!

{}{}{}{}

Corporal Jeremy Higgs (PRT)

Console duty is one of those jobs I both love and hate. It is safe, it is easy, it is important, and it's also about as interesting as watching paint dry. I loved not being one of the poor shits who got dragged out in full gear to take on capes. I loved having a cushy job babysitting Shadow Stalker and answering the phone. It just wasn't very interesting most of the time.

Normally I could bullshit with whatever other poor souls got stuck in here with me, but today Chuck was on duty across from me. Nice enough kid, but he's a kid. Takes everything seriously, like every moment could be the difference between life and death. It would almost be cute; if he was a girl and if it wasn't so damn annoying. Stupid, straight laced, wet behind the ears, punk. Didn't even have the decency to like football.

"This is the PRT. What is the nature of your emergency?" Chuck suddenly spoke up, grabbing my attention. Inwardly I groaned. This meant calls would be flooding in soon enough. Sure, enough I heard more people murmuring into headsets around the room. The buzz in my ear kicked me in gear and I slipped into my work mindset.

"This is the PRT. What is the nature of your emergency?"

"This is officer Simmons with the BBPD. Is this Corporal Jeremy Higgs?" Her voice was clipped and professional. That was, odd I usually only heard from the Winslow Principle, for monthly updates and track schedules. The PD had never given me specifically a call before.

"Yes, this is Higgs. How can I help you officer?"

"We got a call from Winslow high school principal's office, from a girl claiming to be a new cape. And by new, I mean brand new, past ten minutes new." I gave a low whistle. That really was new. Most capes managed to keep their heads down for at least a few weeks after they got powers. "Exactly, normally I'd just pass this up to whoever, but she was calling to report a crime, committed against her, and named three classmates as the perpetrators. One of the girl's name set off a red flag when I ran it through the computer, with a note attached to call you specifically."

"Sophia Hess." I felt a lead weight settling in my stomach even as I said it. This was bad. This was very _very_ bad. What the hell had that stupid girl done?

"That's correct. Can I ask-"

"No, you cannot. There are at least a dozen reasons why she would be a red flag for the PRT and I'm not at liberty to disclose which applies to that specific individual." I said a bit harshly. Normally I wouldn't blame the woman for being a bit nosy especially when something like this was going on, but I was a bit too busy panicking to keep my tone in check.

"Right, right, forget I asked." She grumbled. "I'll be sending along a full recording of the original call shortly. Have a good day."

I bit my lip as she hung up. I'd helped keep Stalker out of trouble for a few pranks and some roughhousing in the past but I didn't think the girl was stupid enough to do anything that would see her facing charges… The director wouldn't see it that way either. Sure, I'd kept the girl out of a bit of trouble, Winslow got to have a Ward on campus so they got a little extra funding, and the director didn't have to bother disciplining Stalker over a schoolyard spat. But this wasn't going to blow over. The woman had absolutely no tolerance for breaking procedure. She'd see my hide tacked up on her office wall for this.

"Alright what have we got people?!" Paul shouted. Paul was in charge of dispatching response but with Parahumans you can't just send a squad car. That kind of stupidity gets people killed so it's his job to take in all the information and dispatch an appropriate response for things that don't call for the director's personal attention. Good guy, a bit stiff though.

"Cape presence at Winslow high school. So far, no violence or demands. Just some flying balls of light." Chuck shouted back

"Anyone got anything different? Any attacks?" A chorus of negatives answered him.

Then I had an idea, a crazy idea. If I was very lucky, I just might get out of this clean. One fight, even if no one got hurt. One fight against the Protectorate in the school and it wouldn't matter what the new cape said. No one would bother asking any questions they'd just draw their own conclusions. She was already using her powers in a school, whoever we sent would be expecting a fight, it was a powder keg, it just needed one little spark…

"PD got in touch." I called out. "New cape put in a call to them and mentioned Shadow Stalker's civilian ID by name. Apparently, she placed the call from the principal's office." No lies, just not the whole truth. I swallowed before glancing up at Paul trying to keep my face blank. Paul paled.

"Higgs, put in an order for a couple of squads to go to Winslow. I'm putting in a call to Velocity he's the only one in the area right now. Oh, and tell Stalker to stay put for now, we don't want to risk her civilian ID any more than we have to!" I nodded and started following my orders. And I kept my fingers crossed.

{}{}{}{}

Sophia Hess

The buss rumbled lightly bouncing a bit now and then from pot holes. The city has lousy with the damn things. It was as much from cape fights as it was the fact that the city was just going to shit in general. I glanced down at the phone in my hand not quite believing what I was seeing. The video played out again this time with subtitles for the morons who couldn't spell

I had to hand it to the bitch. This took either serious balls or a serious lack of brains. I was leaning towards the later, but even then, it still took balls to call the fucking PRT and the Protectorate on their bullshit for an entire city to see. If nothing else she had gone big. I could respect that. It wouldn't stop me from getting even with the bitch though. She was going to regret making me go on the run like this. Powers or not she was still prey, and I'd be sure to put her in her fucking place.

With a snarl, I chucked my phones out of the bus's window. I still had some gear and a few burners stashed away around the city. I'd collect those first, and then I'd start planning.


End file.
